Nirmal finished her schooling from Hamirpur and shifted to Jalandhar to enter college. She got married to an army officer, K.C Sethi, while still in college.After finishing her graduation, Nirmal told her husband about her wish to work in an unconventional field. In those days there were very few options of public transport from Dharamsala to Chintpurni, and very few buses ran this route. Nirmal saw this as an opportunity to start her business as well as to help people. She wanted to start her own transport company.Thus in 1971, Nirmal started Sangam Highways, with one bus travelling from Dharamsala to Chintpurni and back, and became the first woman transporter of the state.Dharamsala was not that developed then. Women were supposed to be either housewives or teachers. However, Nirmal would travel all the way to Chintpurni along with the driver and conductor. She would sometimes just stand by the road and do a surprise check on the bus.By this time, Nirmal also gave birth to her first daughter, Shagun. Her husband kept moving being in the Indian army. However, she managed the transport company all alone, staying back in Dharamsala.
In 1981, Nirmal read an advertisement in the newspaper by the Indian Oil. They were looking for dealers for their first petrol pump in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. Nirmal called her husband and told him that she was game for this opportunity but was hesitant as she had never heard of a woman getting the dealership of a petrol pump.Nirmal travelled all alone to Jammu to give the interview to find nearly 2,000 applicants for the deal, and she was the only woman applicant.Back then there were very few personal vehicles like cars and two-wheelers in Himachal. The petrol pumps were mostly visited by bus or truck drivers, and at the interview, Nirmal was asked how she was going to survive in an environment that could be aggressive.Thus Nirmal became the first woman dealer for Indian Oil in North India in 1983.Soon she gave birth to her second child, Khushboo. But being a mother of two children and staying all alone did not stop this feisty lady from expanding her business.She got one oil tanker, which would supply oil to Leh, Ladakh and Kashmir. The oil used to be filled up in Ambala, so every week she would travel to Ambala. She would also personally take the oil tanker to the workshop for regular servicing. Soon, Nirmal was managing eight tankers of her own.
Nirmal also started a Maruti service station just beside her petrol pump and would manage everything on her own, with strong moral support from her husband. In 2005, when her younger daughter was still in college, she lost her husband. At once people thought that this would be the end of her business too as she was shattered. But Nirmal gathered her strength once again, this time with the support of her two daughters, and kept going.Nirmal always wanted to do something for the women of Himachal Pradesh who hardly came out of their houses. She asked many women to join her petrol pump but there was always a negative response.Nirmal’s efforts were fruitful this year when she met Sunita who had lost her husband and was in need of a job. Next came Madhu who also wanted to support her family. Both these women are now working at Dhauladhar petrol pump. Nirmal plans to recruit more women at her petrol pump and as drivers or conductors for her oil tankers in the future.You can contact Nirmal Sethi at nirmalkangra@aol.in or call her on 01892265287.